page_title: List of Arsenal F.C. managers
section_title: 1996–2018: Wenger era
hierarchical_section_title: List of Arsenal F.C. managers / Managerial history / 1996–2018: Wenger era
caption_attribution_description: Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger during the 2015 Arsenal Members' Day Open Training Session.
context_page_description: Arsenal Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Islington, London. The club was formed in Woolwich in 1886 as Dial Square before it was shortly renamed to Royal Arsenal, and then Woolwich Arsenal in 1893. They became the first southern member admitted into the Football League in 1893, having spent their first four seasons solely participating in cup tournaments and friendlies. The club's name was shortened to Arsenal in 1914, a year after moving to Highbury. In spite of finishing fifth in the Second Division in 1915, Arsenal rejoined the First Division at the expense of local rivals Tottenham Hotspur when football resumed after the First World War. Since that time, they have not fallen below the first tier of the English football league system and hold the record for the longest uninterrupted period in the top flight.
  There have been nineteen permanent and eight caretaker managers of Arsenal since 1897; Stewart Houston has managed the club in two separate spells as caretaker. The most successful person to manage Arsenal is Arsène Wenger, who won three Premier League titles, seven FA Cups and seven Community Shields between 1996 and 2018.
context_section_description: The dismissal of Rioch meant Houston was once again put in temporary charge of first-team affairs. When Houston left Arsenal to eventually become the Queens Park Rangers manager, his position was taken up by Pat Rice. Frenchman Arsène Wenger, in the meantime, agreed a deal with the Arsenal board to become the club's next manager. His appointment was confirmed in September 1996, after receiving an early release from Japanese club Nagoya Grampus Eight. Hill-Wood was highly optimistic of Wenger, in spite of the track record that came with previous non-British managers in the Premier League:
  I believe Arsène Wenger is going to be a great success and drag football in this country into the 20th century. There is no doubt in my mind we are blinkered and backward as a sporting nation. Look at the British results in Europe, they were not good, including ours. We keep telling ourselves we have the best league in Europe, but it is not true. We need to catch up with the Continentals and we think Arsène is the man to help us.
  Wenger has been credited with promoting the importance of diet and nutrition in football and advocating the principle that the sport ought to be entertaining on the pitch. The signings of Patrick Vieira, Emmanuel Petit, Marc Overmars and Nicolas Anelka, combined with the club's many experienced players, helped Arsenal win the double in 1997–98. Wenger led Arsenal to another double in 2001–02; his team scored in every Premier League game that season and won their remaining 13 matches to clinch the title. A year later, Wenger became the first manager since Keith Burkinshaw 21 years previously to retain the FA Cup; Arsenal beat Southampton 1–0 in the final. Wenger won his third league title in 2003–04, which earnt distinction as he guided his team to an unbeaten league season, something achieved only once before in English football, by Preston North End in 1888–89. Another FA Cup was won in 2005, this time on penalties against Manchester United. Wenger took Arsenal to their first UEFA Champions League final in 2006 and in the same year oversaw the club's relocation to the Emirates Stadium. In October 2009, Wenger surpassed Allinson to become Arsenal's longest serving manager and reflected the club were "maybe not crazy, but brave" to appoint him.
  During 2013–14, Wenger celebrated his 1,000th game in charge of Arsenal and in the process became the fourth manager in English football (after Sir Matt Busby, Dario Gradi and Sir Alex Ferguson) to do so. The match however did not go as Wenger planned, as the team were beaten 6–0 by Chelsea. Wenger guided Arsenal to further FA Cup success at the end of the season, after a period of nine years without silverware. His team retained the cup the following year, and victory against Chelsea in the 2017 final placed Wenger as the most successful manager in the competition's history with seven trophies. Wenger signed an extension once the season was over, but departed a year before his contract was over due to a run of poor results.
caption: Arsène Wenger is Arsenal's longest serving manager.
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